Sequim to pay $35,000 settlement to man punched by police officer

A screen shot of a video shot by a patron of Oasis Bar and Grill in Sequim in 2013 shows police subduing a man believed to be Morgan Weimer. Herbert Price

SEQUIM — The city has agreed to pay a settlement of $35,000 to a man punched by a police officer in 2013.

The settlement agreed upon Monday prevents a federal lawsuit on behalf of Morgan Weimer, 48, from proceeding to jury trial and does not hold the city liable for the incident.

Weimer’s lawsuit was slated to go before a jury Tuesday morning at U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington in Tacoma.

On Monday, the court ordered the litigants’ attorneys to engage in a mandatory settlement conference.

During the conference, John Black — a Port Angeles attorney who represented Weimer along with attorney John Muenster of Bainbridge Island — met with attorneys for the Washington Cities Insurance Authority, a municipal risk pool.

“We ended up settling,” Black said.

“That is all Mr. Weimer wanted, from the beginning, was just to be compensated. He felt he was treated wrongly.”

The settlement will be paid “by the city’s risk pool provider, which made a business decision to avoid the expenses of a protracted trial,” said Patrick McMahon, a Wenatchee-based attorney representing the risk pool.

The settlement “is just an agreement not to go forward,” said Sequim Police Chief Bill Dickinson.

“We didn’t admit any culpability at all because we don’t think the officers did anything wrong. They were operating within the law.”

Weimer had been seeking damages and attorney fees from the city to cover medical bills, the week’s wages he lost while he was recovering and pain and suffering after he was hit May 12, 2013.

“We are satisfied with the settlement,” Muenster said.

“We accomplished what we wanted to do, and we’ve held the Police Department accountable.”